Lakewood, Colorado Wins Golden Snow Globe Contest

Congratulations to Lakewood, Colorada for being the officially, unofficial snowiest big city in the United states for the 2015-2016 snow season. Believe it or not, any snow that falls up until June 30th still counts for the 2015-2016 snow season. I feel pretty confident calling the snow contest and the winner right now with Lakewood having over a foot of snow more than Syracuse, New York, and a 20+ inch lead over Fort Collins and Denver Colorado as of this posting. The only reason I waited this long to call it was because of the Colorado cities still having a chance for some snow. I will update the seasonal snow stats as/if needed.

Lakewood,Co received some decent late season snow that dropped more than enough snow to skate past the normal season favorite Syracuse, New York which held the lead a couple times this season. Lakewood also slipped past Erie, Pa, South Bend, Indiana, Flint, Michigan and Sioux Falls which were holding the top 5 spots on or around March 3rd. At that time, Lakewood was in 6th place, 20+ inches behind the leader then, Syracuse, New York.

Even though it was a mild winter for a lot of the cities this season the snow contest was pretty close and exciting once the snow finally did start falling. There were several lead changes throughout the 2015-2016 snow season and what made it fun was that it was a mix of cities on the top or near the top from all over the US. A couple that you wouldn’t expect including Lakewood, CO which as of right now has almost 40 inches of snow above their normal snowfall for the season compared to Syracuse, NY which has a snow deficit of over 40 inches this season. WTG Lakewood

How The 2015-2016 Snow Season Started

Anchorage, Alaska started off the 2015-2016 Golden Snow Globe contest when I did an update on September 30th. The National Weather Service was reporting 2.8 inches of snow and was the only city reporting measurable snowfall. A few others were showing just a trace of snow. Syracuse, NY was the next city to report some measurable snow on or around October 18th-19th, 2015.

Finally a Top 10 Snowiest City List

We finally had a Top 5 list for snowiest Big cities in the United States around November 6th and didn’t have a top 10 list until November 17th when there were 12 cities reporting measurable snowfall. Anchorage, Alaska was still in the lead with 9.6 inches of snow. Below is pretty much how this season played out as far as cities that led the snow contest at one time or another. Keep in mind that the National Weather Service updates the snow stats the next day for the previous day so the dates are give or take a day

Lead Changes in The 2015-2016 National Golden Snow Globe Contest

9/30 – Anchorage, Alaska started the 2015-2016 Golden Snow Globe contest on or around September 30th

12/15 – Lakewood, Colorado takes the lead with 24.0 inches of snow. Anchorage is in 2nd with 22.2 inches.

* NOTE – Come Christmas day, Reno, Nevada had 10.5 inches of snowfall. Reno is beating Erie, Pa which only has 4.8 inches. Rochester, NY has 1.2, Syracuse has 0.8 inches on Christmas day, Buffalo, NY is showing just a tenth of an inch and Worcester, MA is only reporting a trace of snow on the season. WOW! It gets better! Last season’s snow champs, Lowell, MA doesn’t even have a snowflake yet

12/29 – Sioux Falls, South Dakota takes the lead from Lakewood, CO with a snow total of 32.7 inches of snow on the season.

* NOTE – 1/15 – About Halfway through January the snow contest started getting more exciting with the Northeast cities finally starting to get into the snowball fight

1/20 – Erie, PA takes the lead from Sioux Falls, SD by two-tenths of an inch posting 42.3 inches. Sioux Falls has 42.1 inches of snow.

1/25 – Sioux Falls started packing the snowballs and took the lead back from Erie, Pa. Syracuse has been hanging in 3rd place just waiting to slide to the top on the snow mountain.

1/29 – Erie, PA takes slips back to the top with leading Sioux Falls by half an inch.

2/2 – While Erie and Sioux Falls were battling it out this season’s snow champs Lakewood, CO slipped past both of them by just over an inch of snow

2/10 – At this point in the snow season there was a lot of back and forth going on. Erie, PA slides to the top again!

2/14 – Yayyyy! Syracuse, NY finally climbed to the top of the snow mountain for the first time this season. Yeah, I’m from Syracuse so I can say Yayyyy

2/16 – OK, so much for my Yayyyy Erie, PA retakes the lead!

3/2 – Buh Bye Erie, Hello Syracuse

3/24 – Lakewood had more than enough time away from the top to make some snowballs and they put them to good use retaking the lead

4/3 – I was surprised that Syracuse got some decent snowfall in April to slip past Lakewood by almost 6 inches of snow come 4/4 and Syracuse was at 80.4 inches on the season. Well below their normal average but hey, seemed like enough. Us folks in Syracuse were pretty much ready to do a victory dance

4/17 – Lakewood gets pounded with snow on or around the 16th and 17 and picks up 16 inches of snow. No, really they did. Can you say snow season and contest over Lakewood sleds to the top of the Golden Snow Globe mountain and sets up camp. Ain’t no city gonna touch em after that. 16 inches of snow in April, you deserve to be crowned the snow champs for the snowiest big city in the United States. Way to go Lakewood, Colorado

5/24 – The funny part is that Lakewood and all of the Colorado cities continued to pile up snow after they got hammered by that storm. That was why I was a little hesitant to call the contest. I was waiting to see if Denver or Fort Collins, CO could catch Lakewood. With a 20+ inch lead right now I feel pretty confident that Lakewood will be the snowiest big city in the United States with a population of 100.000 or more. If something changes then the snow contest will go on. That said, Congrats Lakewood and well deserved We had 14 lead changes this season give or take a couple which isn’t too bad considering the lack of snow for a lot of cities.

It Was a Fun National Snow Contest This Season

So, all in all, this season’s national Golden Snow Globe contest for snowiest Big cities in the United States turned out to be a fun snow race and exciting too. It’s obviously all of you that visit the snow site and our Facebook snow group page that made it so much fun. A Big Thanks to all of you for helping to make the 2015-2016 snow season a blast. That also includes all of you news folks out there that wrote about the snow contest and also the Meteorologists who helped out by keeping us informed.

A special Thanks to those of you that were able to donate to the snow site. The donations help out a lot not to mention always keep me motivated, lol

Hope you all had fun. Feel Free to buy me a cold one

OK, really it helps me pay the bills through the Summer and just maybe a cocktail or two !

I’ll still be keeping an eye on the weather and if I hear of a city getting snow I’ll do an update. Keep in mind that as I mentioned above the snow season according to the National Weather Service runs from July 1st until June 30th. So in other words nothing is official until then

Updated 2/10 7:00 PM – Erie marches back to the Top of the snow mountain into the number 1 spot. Congrats Erie, for now anyways

I figured it was going to be kind of close looking at some snow stats a little earlier. I had a feeling Erie was going to get enough snow this morning and today to take the lead away from Lakewood, CO. The only thing I was concerned about was that I saw that Sioux Falls, SD was getting some snow and thought they may have had a shot at regaining the lead also in the snow contest

Stay Tuned and it will be interesting as to which city will come out on top come tomorrow

National Snowiest Big City In United States Contest

The Golden Snow Globe contest has really been starting to take shape the last week or two with many cities getting enough snow to have a shot at being the King of the Snow Mountain. The good news is that all of the Great Lakes are pretty much wide open which means Lake Effect snow for everyone Whether we like it or not there is still a lot of snow season left. Yeah, I know, be quiet huh

With the Great Lakes having little ice on them compared to an average winter season this is a good chance for some of the cities further down the list to start their comeback. Cities like Buffalo, NY have a good chance to move up quite a bit this week and I am guessing they will… And where is Rochester, NY this season and a few others. It’s time to join the snowball fight and have some fun

Great Lakes Ice Cover 2/9/2016

Erie, PA which was the King of the snow mountain not too long ago picked up just enough snow to climb their way into the number 3 spot yesterday. Snow is in the forecast for the next several days for a lot of the Golden Snow Globe cities and it will be interesting to see if/when we have a new King of the mountain. I’m guessing sooner rather than later.

Lakewood, Colorado still holds the lead in the National snow contest for Big cities (population of 100,000+) but only by 1.7 inches over second place Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Erie, PA is in 3rd, Fort Collins, CO is in a tie for 4th place right now with Syracuse, New York.

Several of the cities along the great lakes are under lake effect snow watches or warnings now. With the Artic air that is expected to move into the Northeast and other places in the US no doubt, some decent snow will be falling the next several days. It’s going to be fun watching the cities slip and slide up and down the snow mountain

A lot of us have been paying attention to the cities around Lake Ontario and Lake Erie but I think it’s time to keep an eye on a couple of the cities around Lake Michigan which is still wide open. South Bend, Indiana and Flint, Michigan come to mind and both cities broke into the Top 10 this last update. I was checking out the radar a little while ago and it looks like Lake Michigan’s lake effect snow machines are cranking out snow in full force right now.

Stay Tuned and Stay Safe All. As always, if You See Snow – Drive Slow! Have a great day

The Massettchusetts cities, Worcester, Boston and Lowell finally got some decent snow and Worcester was able to finally break into the Top 25 snowiest cities.

I was updating the snow stats last night and noticed that Amarillo, Texas is under a blizzard warning. I’m thinking of the snow that the northeast has received so far or should I say lack of snow received and just thinking how crazy this snow season has been.

* WIND CHILLS…THE COMBINATION OF STRONG NORTH WINDS AND COLD
TEMPERATURES WILL PRODUCE WIND CHILLS AS LOW AS 10 BELOW ZERO
FOR MUCH OF THE EVENT.

* IMPACTS…TRAVEL WILL BECOME EXTREMELY HAZARDOUS…IF NOT
IMPOSSIBLE.

A blizzard warning issued for Amarillo, Texas

Record temperatures are/were being broken all over the eastern half of the United States while some of the cities to the west are and have been getting snow all season. Spokane Washington moved into second place after yesterdays update as they flew up the snow mountain the last week or so. Not so unusual for Spokane to get some good snowfall though.

What is pretty unusual is seeing cities like Albuquerque, New Mexico, Amarillo, Texas, Reno, Nevada and several other cities ahead of the northeast cities right now as far as snow totals go. They are ahead of cities such as Syracuse, New York which on average is the snowiest big city in the United states with a population of 100,000 or more. Ahead of Erie, PA, Buffalo, NY, Rochester, NY and Grand Rapids, Michigan which are some of the other snowiest big cities in the US. Crazy, Crazy, Crazy weather to say the least.

It looks like some colder air will finally be settling in sometime soon and may even stick around for awhile this time. It may be time to finally get the leaves raked up

Buffalo Breaks No Snow Record

Wow and Congrats to Buffalo on breaking the all-time record for not receiving any measurable snowfall this far into the snow season according the Buffalo National Weather Service.

Buffalo National Weather Service Statement - “It’s official, Buffalo has set a new record for the latest measurable snow. The previous record was December 3rd, set back in 1899. We will continue to add to this record for many days to come, with no cold or snow expected for at least the next 10 days. Here is the 6-10 day forecast, showing very high chances for above normal temperatures to last for much of the nation through the middle of December.”.

So while Anchorage, Alaska has been camping out at the top of the Golden Snow Globe mountain for quite awhile now Buffalo hasn’t even stepped on the snow mountain to start climbing. When Buffalo does finally start climbing the snow mountain they will have at least 46 other cities that are ahead of them to slip past. That’s going to be a whole lot of snowball fights so Buffalo better start stocking up on snowballs. Oh, that’s right they have no snow, lol

I did an update earlier today and the top cities continue to add a little snow here and there. A lot of cities are going to have to make up a lot of snow to catch up to the cities near the top of the snow mountain.

Anchorage, Alaska Snowiest Big City in US

Anchorage has been hanging at the top so long now that they probably have a nice snow fort built by now along with an endless supply of snowballs to toss at any city that attempts to take over the top of the mountain. Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Lakewood, Colorado have been keeping close to Anchorage and it will be interesting to see if either of those cities can take over the number one spot on the mountain.

Chicago, Illinois is in 4th place right now. Seriously and I kid you not. Chicago, as of the last update has over a foot of snow already this season. Chicago’s normal snow totals for this time in the season are just around 2 inches of snow. WTG Chicago! Lakewood, Colorado has 16 inches so far for the 2015-2016 snow season which is right around their normals for this time.

It may not be snowing in your neck of the woods but a lot of cities are getting snow. So far and I’m sure there are a few that we missed, 46 Big cities with a population of 100,000 or more have had measurable snowfall so far for the 2015-2016 snow season. Stay Tuned

Updated 11/20 - Just a quick post to say Congrats to Anchorage, Alaska for being the first Big city with a pop of 100,000 or more to be the first city to join the 1 foot of snow club this season. It should be interesting to see if any of the other cities will join you now that some cold air is around. WTG Anchorage

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11/19 – OK, Compared to last season at this time, a lot of the Big cities in the snowiest city in the US contest have less snow so far to date. There are a handful of cities that really stand out and a few that have less than a foot, almost 2 feet less snow than they did last year at this time in the snow season.

Grand Rapids, Michigan as of yesterday is only showing a Trace of snow so far for the 2015-2016 snow season. Last season at this time they had 23.4 inches of snowfall at this time. If it seems like a nice Winter season so far for you folks in Grand Rapids, it is. Almost two feet of snow behind the 2014-2015 season

Erie, Pennsylvania which only has a Trace of snow also so far looked like they were going for a repeat win last season starting out strong with 17.8 inches of snow at this time last season. Erie, Pa was competitive as always but too many storms, lake effect events just missed them. If it wasn’t for the near misses Erie’s totals probably would have been a couple feet higher by the end of the season. Stop slacking Erie and get it going. You have 17+ inches to catch up to last season

South Bend Indiana also started out really strong at the beginning of last season. South Bend had 17 inches of snow by now. Right now South Bend is reporting just a Trace of snowfall this season also.

A couple others who are dragging this season are Cleveland, Ohio and Boise, Idaho. Cleveland had 9.4 inches of snow last season compared to 0.1 inches so far this season. Boise had 7.6 inches about this time in the 2014-2016 snow season compared to 0.8 inches of snow as of yesterday.

The list goes on and on with cities in the Golden Snow Globe contest that are below the amount of snow that they had last season at this time. In fact most of the cities are behind what their average snowfall shoulf be for this time of the year. I have a feeling that several of the cities will be catching up in the next week or so though with some cold air moving into some of the cities. Stay Tuned Click Here for Current Snow Totals!

Snowiest Top 5 Cities in the United States 2015 – 2016

Here it November 6th and we finally have a Top 5 list for the snowiest Big cities in the nation. The current list would have been from the end of the day on the 5th for most of the cities in the Golden Snow Globe contest.

Anchorage, Alaska continues to add to their lead and added another inch of snow since the last update. It seems like Anchorage either gets quite a bit of snow or next to nothing each season. Anchorage did win the snow contest back in the 2011 – 2012 snow season with 134.5 inches of snow.

Denver, Colorado slipped past Syracuse, New York picking up an inch of snow since the last update. That was the measurable snow for Denver this season. Syracuse is stuck at 0.4 inches right now and I’m sure that the temperatures being in the 70′s in the northeast has something to do with that. Record temps have been set the last few days for several cities in the northeast and I’m guessing they are in no hurry to stop breaking them.

Rochester, Minnesota remains in 4th place at 0.2 inches and the other newcomer to receive snow this season besides Denver is Cleveland, Ohio which is showing 0.1 inches so far for the 2015 – 2016 snow season. Welcome to the new snow season Denver and Cleveland. Cleveland’s snow may be an adjustment or an error because they weren’t showing snow as of the last update so that may change.

Golden Snow Globe Cities Below Average Snow

Almost all of the cities in the National Golden Snow Globe contest are below their average snowfall for this date, but I don’t expect that to last much longer. Remember, the National snow contest is for cities with a population of 100,000 or more as of the 2010 census. If you know of a Big city that we may be missing that has snow already this season then feel free to add a comment to this post and let me know

Feel free to join our snow group on Facebook. It’s a fun group of men and women of all ages, both snow lovers and haters from all over the country. CLICK HERE to JOIN OUR SNOW GROUP!

A Big Thanks to Sandrah C. for your donation today. They all help and to be honest makes the time I put into the snow site seem like it’s appreciated Thanks for taking the time Sandrah
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Updated 11/16 7:30 PM – Just a quick heads up that I did a full update. I only intended to do a top 25 update but when I saw how many cities had some more snow of course I got curious Almost all of the Golden Snow Globe cities shuffled around this up date. Erie still hold on to the lead but South Bend closed the gap a little.

Other cities are closing in and it looks like the big winners this update were Sioux Falls, South Dakota, cities from Michigan, Illinois and a few others. Best part is the beginning of the week starting tomorrow will keep the snow contest interesting. Drive safe all
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OK, I think Erie, Pa is getting too use to being on top in the National Snow Contest. Erie picked up another 2.3 inches of fresh snow today to slip past South Bend, Indiana by a couple of inches. Let’s see if South Bend can launch a snowball attack on Erie and regain the top spot on the snow mountain Better yet maybe we should all join forces and make it a snowball fight to remember So far we have had 4 lead changes this season with 3 different leaders…

Remember last season, the 2013 – 2014 snow season most of the cities were way above their annual snowfall with several cities breaking their all time snow records and several others hitting their top 5 snowiest season. If you think last season was tough in Erie, Pa and a couple of other cities this season could be even more interesting.

Right now Erie, Pa has 15.6 inches of snowfall to date. The normal snowfall for this date in the season should be 2.9 inches which means Erie is already 12.7 inches over their average snowfall to date. It gets even better though because last seasons snow champs had a really snowy season to pull off the victory. This season so far they are blowing away the snow totals that they had at this time last season which was only 3.4 inches of snow. In other words Erie, Pennsylvania already has over a foot of snow more than they did at this time last season. It will be interesting to see what Mother Nature has in storm for them this season

I know, Erie, Erie, Erie – Marsha Marsha, Marsha but let’s face it, right now it’s all about Erie and South Bend but of course that will change as the season goes on Cleveland, Ohio deserves some credit also hanging in the #4 snow slot right now. Cleveland has 6.9 inches of snow on the season which is a good start for them. WTG Cleveland.

Last season I dropped several cities from the snow contest that weren’t doing much as far as snow totals go. I did take a look earlier at those cities and ended up putting 3 of them back in for the fact that one of them is in the top 5 right now and the other 2 are in the top 10. I added Boise, Idaho, Pueblo, Colorado and Colorado Springs back into the lineup. Boise has 7.6 inches for their snow totals and are in 3rd place right now. As for my home team Syracuse, hey, we are at least on the snow board right now

First, as always, a Big Thanks to Sue G. for your donation to the site. They always help out a lot and are very much appreciated. Thanks Sue for taking the time
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OK! I have to admit I was blind sided and slid into the ditch when I saw the snow totals for Erie, Pa. I figured they would be getting some snow but I wasn’t expecting anything like a foot of snowfall to start Erie, Pennsylvania’s snow season off. Remember they were only showing a trace of snow up until now. As of the last update from the National weather service they are reporting 11.8 inches of the fresh white gold on the ground and it sounds like Erie isn’t finished yet. Even though the National Weather Service isn’t showing it yet my guess is they probably set a date snowfall record. WTG Erie

There was a whole lot of sliding around this update and 3 cities sled past Anchorage, Alaska who held the lead up until today. Erie, Pa, South Bend, Indiana and Fort Collins, Colorado moved into the top 3 slots on the Golden Snow Globe snow mountain.

South Bend set a date record picking up 6.2 inches of snow breaking the old record of 4.7 set back in 1974. It’s good to have you back South Bend

As for those of us in Syracuse, New York we figure we will sit back until about February and then turn on our Lake Effect Machine for the big finish. Oh wait, that didn’t go too good last season did it? It looks like it will be another fun snow season and with last seasons snow champs starting with a big lead it should be a lot of fun trying to catch them. Good Luck to all of the cities.

As always, See Snow – Drive Slow unless of course your on a sled or the ski mountains Have a great night all!

Do any of you have a guesstimate as to which of the snowiest cities in the US will start off the Golden Snow Globe national snow contest for the 2014 – 2015 snow season? Personally I think it’s going to be a toss up between Anchorage, Alaska, Most of the Colorado cities and Billings, Montana. I’m going to go with Billings, Montana to get the first measurable snow of the season. Keep in mind though that there has been some snow falling in Alaska, just not in Anchorage as of this last update. Leave a comment in this post with your pick if you have some time

Yeah, I know it’s way too early to even think about snow especially when the weather has been really awesome the last couple of weeks. At least on most of the east coast anyways. I normally don’t even look at the snow stats this early in the season but as I mentioned on the New York Golden Snowball website I had a major computer crash on my other computer so I kind of need to give this antique computer I am using a couple of test rides to get all of the bugs out when updating the website. It’s slower than it will seem like this coming winter will seem like but so far at least it’s working.

I’m also looking for a couple of advertisers or sponsors for the website this season. If you work at a company or know of one that may be interested please have them get in contact with me for some details about the cost and site stats. I’m thinking this year, not season may hit 1,000,000 page views or at least come close to that. Our little snow site has grown each year that it’s been around which I am loving because I am getting to meet a lot of you that are from all over the country. Just click on the contact page above to get in touch with me.

I’m looking forward to the new season (That is sooo untrue) and I am sure it will be as much fun as last season was. Thanks to all of you who posted comments, sent emails and made donations to the site last season. It was an awesome group and I hope to see everyone posting again this season. Enough said and to those of you in Erie, Pa, Not Happening this season. You’re going down

Enjoy the rest of what we have of the nice weather everyone. See ya all soon, ummmm, unfortunately

I was just reading around and came across an article about a new snow storm brewing in the Rockies which may bring a lot of us some snowy weather. According to the article the Rockies and the Northwest US could be getting up to a foot of new snow the beginning of this weekend starting on Friday and going through the weekend.

The good news is, that is if you’re a snow lover of course, is that the cold artic air is suppose to move to the east and go as far as the Northeast so a lot of the Golden Snow Globe cities could also be seeing some snow come next week. Gonna be a long cold snowy 2013 – 2014 season it looks like

From MSN – The new push of arctic air aimed at the United States will first hit a little farther west this time when compared to the last cold blast. However, the arctic air will still have eyes for the Plains, Midwest, Northeast and South next week.